Weaver high on Bullets' fighting spirit

Raul Neto didn’t play through precaution in the second half after inspiring 63 points from the Brisbane Bullets up to then but what pleased coach Will Weaver was how many others stepped up to hold out the Perth Wildcats.

It was the third venue in Brisbane already that the Bullets have played at in NBL27 when they hosted the Perth Wildcats at Nissan Arena on Wednesday night.

Weaver likes that the Bullets are taking their show to different parts of the city and allowing new faces to jump on board to support the team all the time, and ultimately to then see them win.

The Bullets put on a show in the first half with 63 points on 57 per cent shooting with that lead growing to 27 in the third term before the Wildcats got it all the way back to a two-point ball game 11 minutes later.

Brisbane responded to secure the 109-104 to improve to a 6-5 record despite still being without Arnas Velička, Jacob Holt, Sam McDaniel and Max Mackinnon, and not having Neto after half-time.

"I love that the southside got to come see us and I love that a bunch of new faces, and a bunch of consistent fans that have been with us the whole year, showed up to be loud and were here early and creating an incredible environment," Weaver said.

"They stuck with us with the lead, losing the lead, closing it out at the end. It's a lot of fun and I think the people felt that tonight, and this guy's (Jaylin Williams) a big reason why."

Speaking of Neto, the Brazilian put on quite the spectacular show in the first half and to half-time already had 10 points and eight assists to his name to have been instrumental in the 20-point lead.

He wasn’t able to return to the floor in the second half, but Weaver insists it was just a precaution and not that he will join the injury list that's already substantial.

"It was just precaution," Weaver said.

"He just felt a little bit of tightness and we don't mess around with putting our players at risk, regardless of what the score is it was just precautionary for sure.

"I just talked to him, he feels fine."

Above everything, what Weaver is most pleased about with his Bullets team is how nobody wants to make excuses and gets on with the job.

On Wednesday night with Neto unavailable in the second half, captain Mitch Norton played the majority of the rest of the game to end up with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists with 4/4 at the foul line crucially late.

Tyrell Harrison had a big game, but only played 21 minutes and was well backed up by Archie Woodhill with seven points, three rebounds and two assists, and Harry Rouhliadeff even came in for an important three minutes.

Lat Mayen and Mawot Mag were also important to maintain the good work the starters had produced.

"I just think the depth of people that we have is what stands out, both the number of great basketball players and competitors, and staff members working their asses off to help get guys back from injury and keep these guys healthy," Weaver said.

"Then acknowledging that at this time of year there's going to be injuries and we've had more than our fair share.

"But the way that we approach things and the readiness that a player has for whatever's next whether that's a bigger role, a smaller role, a different position, a different five-man unit to play in.

"The city of Brisbane is going to see the same level of fight."

It's still a work in progress 11 games into Weaver's time in charge of the Bullets and there are constant challenges with players coming in an out given the differences in how the team plays with Velička or Neto as point guard, and whether Mackinnon is there or not, whether Holt is there or not, and so on.

But what Weaver does want the Bullets to continue to do is apply pressure on the opposition and attack their weaknesses they have identified, and that's going to be different from night to night too.

Once again, though, the Bullets didn’t get to the free-throw line as much as their opponents with the Wildcats ending up going 20/29 at the stripe for the evening and the Bullets 22/25.

Even that is distorted because eight of those 25 attempts for Brisbane came late in the game with Perth playing catch up, and while Weaver feels some of that needs to come with adjustments from his team on both ends, some of it might be finding a way to get a better run of the whistle.

Weaver had taken great pride in his team not having received a technical so far this season for voicing their frustrations at the officials until Archie Woodhill copped one back on Sunday, and then his frustrations spilled over too when he felt contact was going uncalled that his players were dealing with.

But overall, the Bullets will continue to focus on playing their way and not spend time worrying about things out of their control.

"It doesn't always look like it looked when we're pressing full court which we were tonight, but sometimes pressure comes through different schemes and there might be a little more nuance," Weaver said.

"But we're always applying pressure on our strengths against your weaknesses and they're trying to do the same thing but it's about who does that better.

"I was really proud of the guys with how we emphasised driving the basketball and we barely settled for any jumpers except for the catch and shoot threes that we got, but it's the second game in a row where the other team shot way more jump shots than us, and we're still getting out shot from the free-throw line.

"That's even with in both games where we've got a lead and they're intentionally fouling at the end so we've got to figure out a better way to adjust to the contact around the rim that we have to finish through because that's not getting called as a foul.

"It's obvious that that's just how it's being officiated so we've got to adjust to that part and that relentless attack the rim focus and spray out when the crowd comes is gonna stay a part of our identity for as long as I'm here."